About the Author

Arsalan Mir is a Telecom enthusiast with engineering background based in Lahore. On professional front, he is the Director Operations at the Target Group. He can be reached at arsalan (at) telecompk (dot) net

12 Responses to Poll: How many SIMs must be allowed per CNIC?

maximum 10 numbers must be allowed on one CNIC, but with Biometric Verification must be Neccessary, No Restrictions option is also better but Biometric Verification is must, and is very usefull, secure for customers, it is very very best action

Sims which are more then 20 hours active means some one is using it and sim n’t in the sim jacket to use for crime.. sim owner will be responsible….same like licences arm, original CNIC, etc, when someone lose he report immediately to concern authorities, because he know if someone did wrong police will arrest him…Numbers of sim per CNIC is not an issue, matter if sim is more than 20 hours active and someone in his family is using it, mean he own it, and when he own it he wouldn’t want to see police at his door & crime graph will automatically decrease

Imtiaz N. Mohammad:
Setting any such limit is no business of the state. But there should be procedures in place to keep seeing what is being done with the extra sims. Sim hoarding should not be allowed though, and sims should be disabled, just like dormant bank accounts.

Issuance is Good but Control/Check is Bad.
1-Peoples are not aware about the method of checking the sims at their name.
2-Net should be allowed to issue sims on each CNIC
3.Compnanies are selling SIMS by completing Target, but piling up their stocks in frenchises.
4-First get Demand, Then Issue Sim
5-SIM Procedure should be like opening an a/c in the Bank.

I am amazed at this discussion topic triggered off by Mr. Rehman Malik.

Consider the approximate numbers below.

– 170-180 million people in Pakistan
– 90 million CNICs issued by Nadra
– 100 million SIMs in use by customers
– 60 million unique mobile phone customers (approx)

Now, when Mr. Malik says 1 SIM per CNIC, what is the impact:

On Customers:
– Children under 18 can no longer have Mobile Phones because they won’t have CNICs. So if you have kids, either sacrifice your phone connection or they don’t get to use phones
– Freedom to choose your operator is being curtailed – this goes against the concept of MNP

On Government:
– Fewer SIMs means fewer revenues meaning a drop in taxes being paid to the government

On Telcos:
– 40 million SIMs closed. 40% SIMs!! So there is significant market reduction and a customer/revenue impact on all 5 Telcom operators
– How do Mobile Phone operators share ownership information? Will the GSM ownership data be shared between these incredibly competitive parties in this cut throat environment where they all want to protect port-outs

Now, what are the benefits of this limitation (if any)?

In my mind, none. If the government wants to limit SIM cards for security purposes – just ensure that all SIM cards are registered against a valid CNIC!! Why do you want to limit the number of SIMs per CNIC?

What is the issue if I have 1/2/5/10 SIMs registered against my CNIC. As long as they are all on my ownership, any single SIM used to terrorism should be traced back to me (and terrorism here does not mean Z*rd*ri jokes).

Restriction to 1 SIM per Operator is better. At least user will stick to one number. right now it is a mess going on. young generation is switching numbers too fast that caller faces problem to trace his/her friend.

Either government should restrict to 1 SIM per Operator or request Telecom operators to increase price of new connection to Rs 2000/-. It will let people get a bit serious and they will buy SIM only for use. Not to use and then discard..and run after another new number.

The idea of restricting connections is as absurd as any idea could be. People have their own circumstances, their unique needs, unique preferences. There will be great difficulty for many many people if this restriction was imposed.